Charles R. Bowring

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Charles R. Bowring (1840 – January 31, 1890) was a merchant and politician born in St. John's, Newfoundland, Canada.

[edit] Biography

Charles is the grandson of Benjamin Bowring who had established Bowring Brothers in Newfoundland to be one the largest steamship companies in Newfoundland involved in both the sealing and whaling industry. Charles father (Charles Tricks Bowring) was also a prominent businessman in Newfoundland.

Bowring educated and raised as a Unitarian in Liverpool, England was a junior partner of Bowring Brothers in Liverpool until he moved back to Newfoundland to become manager of the operation there.

Bowring Brothers, under Bowring's direction, became one of the leading firms in the seal and cod fisheries and in the transportation of foodstuff to the coastal communities. In 1876 the company was awarded the Newfoundland government’s mail contract. These operations had taken them to a fleet of vessels numbering 57 sailing and steam vessels. Among all of its other ventures they also acted as the Newfoundland agent for several shipping and insurance companies, including Lloyd's of London from 1866. In 1884 the firm established the Red Cross Line, a passenger and freight service.

In 1873 Bowring had been elected as a Conservative to the House of Assembly for the district of Bonavista Bay, and was re-elected the next year following the defeat of the anti-confederate government led by Charles James Fox Bennett. In 1886 Bowring was appointed to the Legislative Council by Prime Minister Robert Thorburn. He consistently opposed the incorporation of the city of St John’s when it came before the council and in 1886 he refused to support a bill to provide a sewage system for the city proposed by the government.

Bowring was a director of the Commercial Bank in St John’s, a member of the St John’s Chamber of Commerce, chairman of the St John’s Gas Light Company, and one of the largest shareholders in the Atlantic Hotel and a prominent member and president of the Athenæum Society. Bowring was also actively involved in the completion of the Cathedral of St John the Baptist, a project undertaken in 1880.